Fallen Angels and the Nephilim

Following Adam and Eve’s disobedience, man “began to multiply on the face of the earth” (Gen. 6:1). As earth’s population grew, some of the angelic “sons of God” saw that the daughters of men were beautiful. No doubt being instructed by the great Adversary, Satan, these angels materialized on the earth. By all outward manifestation, they seemed to be human beings—men of striking appearance. It was not long before they began to take wives among the “daughters of men,” following which children were born (vs. 2).

Since the mothers of these children were human beings, and the fathers were spirit, or angelic, beings, the resulting offspring were a hybrid race. They were neither human nor angelic, and were not the creation of God. The Bible describes them as “giants in the earth; … mighty men” (vs. 4). The Hebrew word here translated giants is “Nephilim.” As a hybrid race, they were incapable of producing offspring, yet they were evidently very powerful, and capable of wreaking much havoc and evil upon the earth.

Because of the Nephilim’s evil influence upon mankind, “GOD saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually” (vs. 5). As a result, God brought the “world that then was” to an end with the flood—saving only faithful Noah and his family (2 Pet. 3:6).

What happened to the hybrid Nephilim, and to the angels who materialized in an earthly form to produce them? The Nephilim were destroyed in the flood, going out of existence forever. Not being of pure Adamic stock, they could have no part in the “ransom for all” provided by the man Christ Jesus (1 Tim. 2:5,6). The ransom was for Adam and his progeny—mankind. The Nephilim, however, were the progeny of angelic, spirit beings, to which the terms of the ransom do not apply.

As for the angels who materialized as humans, the Scriptures state that the “Angels who did not keep their own domain, but abandoned their proper abode, [God] has kept in eternal bonds under darkness for the judgment of the great day” of Christ’s kingdom (Jude 6 NASB). They await the final judgement of Christ and his church (1 Cor. 6:3).

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Orlando Bible Students

We are Christian Bible Students who accept Christ as our personal Savior, and believe that he died for the entire world. We accept the Bible as the inspired Word of God, and study it in its entirety–both the Old and the New Testaments, seeking the harmony of complete Scriptural testimony (2 Timothy 3:16, 17).